Wisdom could be defined as the ability to see the truth and
act appropriately on that knowledge. For
instance, in the matter of the two women who came before Solomon with the baby
that each claimed as her own, Solomon knew that to get what to do to get at the
truth, order the baby murdered and the real mother would be unwilling to allow
it. Wisdom is bound up not only in
knowing but in acting as well. We are
required to do something about what we know.
That doing can look inactive if it is simply being still but sometimes
being still and not taking action is the most difficult of all activity. Passivity is one thing, waiting upon the Lord
is an altogether different thing. On the
cross, Jesus acted in persevering to the end when He could have done
otherwise. Try and be attentive today to
all the situations in your life where wisdom is required to act appropriately,
being sensitive to situations where you react instinctively as well, and see
how much prayer and asking for wisdom could change things.
How many of you, when you read this passage, particularly
the words, “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to
the one who knocks it will be opened”, feel like you’ve not experienced this as
true? I know that in my life I have
sometimes felt that I asked God for bread and instead received a stone like Charlie Brown in the Great
Pumpkin, everyone else seems to get good things and I am left out. Perhaps what I really need is wisdom to know
what to ask and what to do with what I receive.
If I believe this passage then I have to also believe that whatever the
Lord gives me is something good and useful, even when it feels like stones and
serpents. If I believe those things are
true, then what I truly need is the wisdom to value the gift and the wisdom to
know what to do with it. David was
anointed king but that anointing, for a long time, meant only that Saul would
be seeking to kill him.
It is a wonderful thing to know that “God chose you as the
firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the
truth.” That doesn’t always mean,
however, that we experience it as wonderful to be God’s chosen. Jesus was clear that we would be persecuted,
reviled and hated because we are chosen.
Paul was hounded all over the region because he believed in the truth
and ultimately was also put to death for his commitment to the truth he
believed. Most of the apostles suffered
for their belief. How then have we
forgotten this and come to believe that we will be extolled for it? Wisdom is standing firm but standing firm is
only necessary when we’re being challenged, when there is something trying to
move us or cause us to doubt.
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